2023: Safety and surveillance
All throughout 2023, our safety work continued to anticipate new and emerging risks and challenges.
The CARGOSAFE project, which concluded with a Formal Safety Assessment report, was submitted to, and approved by, a dedicated panel of experts at the International Maritime Organization. CARGOSAFE identified several cost-effective technical measures to improve the fire safety of container ships.
Given the increasing number of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) on board ships, we produced our first Safety Guidance in this area, to support Member State administrations and industry. We also carried out the preparatory work for new studies on the safety aspects of alternative fuels.
We also supported the European Commission in maritime security inspections throughout 2023 and held a maritime cybersecurity conference. We continued to improve the MED portal for marine equipment, and provided technical support on MASS, passenger ship safety, port state control, and the ISM code.
Our ROV service became fully operational in 2023.
During 2023, we enhanced our regional RPAS strategy, and had eight different operations running in parallel. We supported a wide range of activities including maritime surveillance, fisheries control, sulphur emissions monitoring, and even tracking whale migration patterns for the second year in a row.
In 2023, we delivered over 16 000 Earth Observation images to Member State administrations and EU institutions. This represents over 1.5 billion square kilometres of sea surface monitored last year, here in the EU and around the world.
